Two Pinjra Tod members arrested for Delhi riots

New Delhi: Two members belonging to Pinjra Tod, a far-Left women rights group, were arrested on Saturday for their involvement in the north-east Delhi riots early this year, police said.

The group was involved in organising women protesters at the Jaffrabad metro station where the riots took place.

The police said they have arrested two members -- Natasha and Dewangana -- for their involvement in the riots. During probe it was found that the far-Left women rights group mobilised locals in north-east Delhi.

It was found that on February 22 evening Pinjra Tod members had mobilised local residents for protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and directed them to gather at Jaffrabad metro station.

"Anti-CAA protesters gathered at the metro station on February 22 night at 10 pm. We thought they would gather at the old site at Seelampur service lane, which is around a kilometre away," sources said.

A new set of protesters then came out and took shelter under the metro station. There were 500 women, children aged 5-6 years and 400 men. They came out of congested bylanes and gathered at the metro station. The core group consisted of outsiders.

The police personnel deployed to remove them were outnumbered.

"We had limited women personnel. Besides, there were orders from the High Court and Supreme Court over the right to protest. However, we did not allow tents at the site," said a police source.

By February 23 morning, the crowd swelled to around 2,000. "We had limited staff. Pinjra Tod members were mobilising the crowd and locals supported them," said another source.

Explaining the situation, sources said north-east Delhi is very congested. The area around Jaffrabad and Maujpur has a population of 80,000 people per sq km. Seeing the crowd swell at Jaffrabad metro station, a kilometre away at Maujpur metro station, another community's members also gathered and started a sit-in, saying would soon jam the entire stretch of Maujpur.

It was here that BJP leader Kapil Mishra came and addressed the crowd and then left.

The situation worsened and more people started gathering at both the places, leading to rioting.

The police are also investigating the role of other members of Pinjra Tod.